Fibonaccis Ride © Benoit Photo
STAKES RECAP: A LONGSHOT, AN INVADER AND A SPARKLING DEBUT
Saturday’s stakes action at Del Mar provided fans with big longshot payoff and an out-of-town invader who went off as the favorite and ran like it. In between the two stakes races was the debut of a promising Flightline colt who did not disappoint.
The longshot came in the $150,000 Solana Beach Stakes for Cal-bred fillies and mares. Fibonaccis Ride rallied up the rail under Hall of Fame rider Victor Espinoza and outdueled runner-up Quick Kate to the wire. Fibonaccis Ride went off at 17-1 and paid $36.80 on a $2 win ticket. Quick Kate was 13-1, prompting a $1 exacta of $123.40.
“The race set up my way,” Espinoza said Sunday morning. “I just stayed inside and was crossing my fingers hoping the horse in front of me would get through. It opened it up for me and I got lucky.“
It was Espinoza’s first stakes win at Del Mar since 2023 when he won the Shared Belief aboard Tahoe Sunrise in a dead-heat with Mr Fisk - with both horses trained by Bob Baffert. It was his 110th overall stakes win at the seaside oval, second best in track history behind Chris McCarron’s 134.
Fibonaccis Ride came out of the race in good order according to trainer Antonio Garcia, who scored his second stakes win of the meet.
Grand Slam Smile went off as the 3/5 favorite in the Solana Beach but got caught up in a speed duel with Can’t Sleep and faded to fourth, falling $2,880 short of becoming racing’s newest millionaire.
“It was a bit frustrating being down on the inside like that,” trainer Sean McCarthy noted. “The fractions were legit but at the same time both horses were going at each other pretty good. That’s racing. We weren’t able to finish up like we wanted to but we move on to the next day.“
McCarthy said he doesn’t know what is next for his Cal-bred champion.
“We’ll see,” he stated. “I don’t know for sure. But more importantly she came out of the race in good shape and that’s the main thing.”
The second stakes race on the Saturday card, the $100,000 CTT and TOC, was another triumph for trainer Graham Motion who has made a habit of shipping in horses for stakes races at Del Mar and walking away with the prize money. He did it a couple times in 2025, won the G2 Yellow Ribbon with Warming last weekend and did it again Saturday with Vronti. The English-bred rallied from off the pace, split the two front runners at the sixteenth pole and won by a length over The Mizzen Queen.
“(Jockey Umberto) Rispoli said she was great,” Motion’s assistant Alice Clapham claimed. “He said when he asked her to go up through there she was very brave.”
Clapham says she is “very happy” with the way Vronti came out of the race. They’ll ship back Tuesday to Motion’s base at Fair Hill in Maryland.
In between the two stakes races was a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds and the debut of Inshallah, a colt by Flightline, who was purchased for $2.1 million in May. One of the more highly anticipated debuts from Flightline’s first crop burst out of the gate at the start, opened up a five-length lead by the 3/8’s pole and coasted home much the best.
“We are very happy and thrilled to see him show that kind of pop the first time out,” trainer John Sadler says. “You think you have a nice horse and for him to show that much speed was really exciting.”
The runner-up Icanthelpmyself closed the gap and made it interesting at the end of the 5 ½ furlong race but Sadler says it was for good reason.
“He (jockey Joel Rosario) eased up on him at the end,” Sadler explains. “He knew the job was done.”
Sadler, who said before the race that they were taking it slow with Inshallah, sees no reason to change tactics.
“We don’t have a plan,” Sadler notes. “We’ll see what he shows us.”
Sadler did add the G1 Del Mar Futurity at the end of the summer meet is “not off the table.”
The stakes action at Del Mar continues Sunday with the G3 Rancho Bernardo featuring two-time defending champ Sweet Azteca. It’s Race 5 on the 10-race Sunday program. Probable post time is 4 p.m.
GRADED STAKES DOMINATE NEXT SATURDAY’S PACIFIC CLASSIC DAY
Next Saturday is Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar which not only features the only $1 million race in the west, but a feast of graded stakes action. This year’s Pacific Classic undercard includes the G1 Del Mar Oaks, the G2 Del Mar Mile, and the G2 Green Flash, a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
This is the first year since 2021 the Oaks has been paired up with the Classic. The past four years, the fillies race stood alone on its own weekend. But when the Pacific Classic was moved up on the calendar this year it became a natural fit.
There are 13 fillies nominated for $300,000 Oaks, including a winner at Royal Ascot Green Carrera; G1 Belmont Oaks winner Kensington Lane, and G2 San Clemente winner Somerset West. They’ll be going a mile and an eighth on the grass.
Formidable Man is being pointed to a defense his title in the G2 Del Mar Mile, which is also part of the Pacific Classic undercard. Eighteen horses have been nominated for the Mile, including Cabo Spirit, who beat Formidable Man by a shortening head in the G2 Eddie Read last month (7-26).
The last of the graded stakes next Saturday will be the quickest. It’s the G2 Green Flash, a five-furlong turf sprint. Fifteen horses are nominated for the race including three-time winner Motorious, who first won it in 2023, then repeated in 2024. Last year he finished second but got moved up by the disqualification of the horse first across the line, Reef Runner.
Motorious will be seeking his fourth straight win in the race, a first for the Green Flash but not unprecedented at Del Mar or for his trainer Philip D’Amato. You only need to look a few stalls down from where Motorious is housed in the D’Amato barn to find a horse who has won a particular stakes race four different times at the seaside oval. That would be Gold Phoenix in the Del Mar Handicap.
The stakes action is not limited to Pacific Classic Day next weekend. On Sunday it’s the 82nd edition of the Del Mar Derby, a mile and an eighth turf test. Twenty 3-year-olds are nominated for the race including a pair of Del Mar stakes winners already at the meet: He’s a Knockout the Cal-bred who won the Real Good Deal Stakes last month and Proletariat, winner of the Oceanside Stakes on opening day.
There’s also the filly Green Carrera should her connections decide not go in the Oaks and Mr. A.P., runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar.
Entries for Saturday’s races will be drawn Sunday. The Derby will be drawn with the rest of the Sunday card on Thursday.
GLOBETROTTING HERNANDEZ PLANS TO BE BACK FOR PACIFIC CLASSIC
In June jockey Juan Hernandez fulfilled a bucket list item when he rode at the Royal Ascot meet in England. He even won a race with one of his mounts - Bacio in the Holyroodhouse Stakes. Hernandez had such a good time that when trainer Wesley Ward came calling again, Hernandez jumped at the chance.
So, this week he’s off to England again to ride Bacio in the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York. Trouble is the race is Friday, August 21 and the next day the rider has several good mounts waiting for him on Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar.
“The plan is to ride Friday and then take a helicopter to Heathrow Airport (in London),” Hernandez explains. “There’s a flight at 6:30 from Heathrow to LAX. It lands at 10 p.m. Friday because of the time change and then I will drive down to Del Mar. It’s going to be tough but I think I can do it.”
Hernandez says he’s never done something like this before, running around in helicopters and such. The drive from York to Heathrow is over 3 ½ hours so he would never make the 6:30 flight. The helicopter ride is about 90 minutes and the direct flight from London to Los Angeles is another 11 ½ hours.
“I want to come back and ride because my agent Craig (O’Bryan) told me we have some nice horses Saturday and Sunday,” he said. “That’s why we’re rushing to get back. Hopefully we can do both, win the race and make the flight.”
Hernandez has a plan to combat jet lag and fatigue associated with long distance travel.
“I’m going over there a couple of days before,” Hernandez notes. “I’m flying Tuesday at noon and I get there on Wednesday at noon so I’ll have Wednesday afternoon to recover. I like to run the day before my race or the day of just to get used to the air. I’ll run three or four miles and then get ready for the race.”
The Nunthorpe is a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
“Coming back I’ll be flying at night,” Hernandez adds. “I’ll just sleep the whole flight and save energy for when I get here.”
Hernandez can’t afford to be gone for too long. Going into Sunday he holds a precarious two-win lead over Joel Rosario in the Del Mar jockey standings.
DEL MAR’S JOE HARPER NAMED 2026 LAFFIT PINCAY JR. AWARD WINNER
He has been the face of Del Mar racing for nearly five decades and next Saturday he will be honored with one of the most prestigious awards in horse racing.
Del Mar’s chief executive officer Joe Harper has been named this year’s recipient of the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award. It’s presented every year to a person who has served the sport of racing with “integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.” Harper becomes the 22nd winner of the award.
Harper’s achievements and contributions to racing would fill a book, which by the way is in the works. He has been the leader of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for five decades bringing renovation to the racetrack and unparallel leadership. He’s was key to rebuilding the grandstand back in the 1990’s and bringing the Breeders’ Cup to Del Mar. He has not only brought his unique leadership talents to Del Mar but also to California horseracing and to horseracing in general.
The 83-year-old Harper announced last month that he would be stepping down from his everyday duties as track CEO and will take on the role of CEO Emeritus at the end of the year.
He’ll be presented with the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award on Pacific Classic Day Saturday, August 22.
COOLING OUT: Knightsbridge is in the house. The strapping son of Nyquist arrived last night at Del Mar after a cross-country trip that started in Saratoga Springs, New York Saturday morning. He was accompanied by an exercise rider and a groom, who said it was quiet trip. Knightsbridge will gallop on the main track for the first time Monday morning as he continues preparations for next Saturday’s G1 Pacific Classic…Om N Joy, the filly pointing to the Pacific Classic, put in her final work Sunday morning breezing six-furlongs in 1:16.00. The Cal-bred is hoping to become the second female to win Del Mar’s marquee race…Jockey Joel Rosario pulled off his third hat trick of the summer meet on Saturday and pulled to within two wins of track leader, Juan Hernandez. Rosario won the opener on Harmonique; Race 7 on Inshallah and the nightcap on Steak Fries…Former NFL quarterback Drew Brees was at Del Mar Saturday to present the trophy to the winner of the Solana Beach Stakes. The newly inducted Hall of Famer owns a home in Del Mar and has been a frequent visitor to the seaside oval over the years. He played for the San Diego Chargers from 2001 to 2005 before going on to win a Super Bowl and greater fame in New Orleans…Notable works on Sunday: Dirt – Cabo Spirit (4f, :47.80); Collmus (4f, :47.60); Maximum Bourbon (4f, :49.00); Ocean Bear (4f, :50.40); Privman (4f, :47.60); Sumter (4f, :48.00); Vodka Vodka (4f, :48.60); Iron Man Cal (5f, 1:01.20); Proletariat (5f, 1:02.00); Shea Brennan (5f, 1:00.00), and Somerset West (5f, 1:00.00). Turf – Kensington Lane (4f, :49.20); Motorious (4f, :49.20); Old Pal (4f, :50.20); Ag Bullet (5f, 1:03.60); Almendares (5f, 1:02.00); Freedom’s Not Free (5f, 1:01.20); Gold Phoenix (5f, 1;04.80); King of Gosford (5f, 1:01.80), and Thought Process (5f, 1:03.40). 234 horses put in official works Sunday at Del Mar. 207 on the main track. 27 on the grass.